Plus: Northrop's first batch of Transport Layer satellites
By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: NASA offers more support for Starliner, Meridian Space spins out of SpinLaunch, Northrop delivers its first batch of Transport Layer satellites and more.
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FROM SPACENEWS |
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Where do space investors see the biggest opportunities? SpaceNews has mapped the ranks of private space firms valued at $1 billion or more, capturing 37 companies working in launch and satellite broadband, Earth observation, space stations, orbital data centers and other promising markets. Drawing on public disclosures, original reporting and other sources, each profile tracks when and how a company achieved unicorn status and its latest known valuation, alongside funding-round breakdowns and total capital raised from BryceTech’s Startup Space database. Download the report. |
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Top Stories
NASA is providing additional support to Boeing to get its CST-100 Starliner commercial crew spacecraft into service. NASA announced Monday a $359 million contract modification that will fund some additional work in Starliner to fix thruster problems experienced on previous flights. The funding will also go toward work to certify ULA's Vulcan Centaur for future Starliner missions after the remaining six Atlas 5 rockets are used. NASA said an uncrewed test flight, Starliner-1, could launch in December or January, but Starliner-2, a crewed mission that will be commanded by NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg, is not expected to fly until at least 2028. Getting Starliner flying has taken on new urgency given expectations that SpaceX will retire the Crew Dragon in the coming years. NASA said it is committed to continuing competition in the commercial crew program but suggested it would be up to the private sector to fund a new crewed spacecraft. [SpaceNews]
Northrop Grumman has delivered its first 21 satellites for the U.S. Space Force's proliferated low Earth orbit constellation. The satellites are the first half of a $692 million contract for 42 spacecraft the Space Development Agency awarded Northrop in 2022 for the Tranche 1 Transport Layer, and are expected to launch on a Falcon 9 in the coming weeks. York launched the first 21 Tranche 1 Transport satellites in September 2025, followed by 21 Lockheed Martin spacecraft in October; York launched 21 more in July. A successful launch of Northrop's first plane would mean two-thirds of the planned 126-satellite Tranche 1 Transport Layer would be in orbit. [SpaceNews]
Broadband constellation Meridian Space has parted ways with space access company SpinLaunch. The two ventures formally split into separate companies last week, allowing Meridian to pursue its satellite constellation and seek additional funding. NanoAvionics, Kongsberg's Lithuanian small satellite manufacturing unit, has a $139 million contract to build 280 satellites. SpinLaunch will continue developing an alternative launch system that has involved using a centrifuge to accelerate vehicles to hypersonic speeds while also pursuing hypersonics technologies to support the U.S. Golden Dome missile defense program. [SpaceNews]
Polish space company Eycore has presented the first images of the Earth's surface captured by its flagship radar-imaging satellite. The images from the Eyecore-1 satellite confirm the performance of its synthetic aperture radar imaging system, the company says. The move comes as Eycore is advancing investments in its Polish production capacities and positioning itself as a contender for major European contracts as well as a share of rising Polish space spending. [SpaceNews]
Momentus says it successfully tested a low-cost sensor suite for satellite proximity operations. The company said Tuesday it tested the system, which combines lidar systems with optical and infrared cameras, during a recent test on its Vigoride-7 spacecraft. Vigoride released a NASA-developed cubesat to test rendezvous and proximity operations, using the sensor suite to track the cubesat as it maneuvered. Momentus plans to further evaluate the data collected by the sensors to determine the best combination. Momentus developed the sensors with a SpaceWERX award and plans to use them on future spacecraft for satellite servicing and related applications. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
SpaceX said the first orbital flight of Starship was a success Monday despite ending the mission earlier than planned. Starship successfully deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites on the Flight 14 mission, which was to spend almost 10 hours in orbit. However, SpaceX elected to cut the mission short and reenter after only three hours, a move it said it made out of an abundance of caution after engine failures on both the Starship upper stage and Super Heavy booster. The upper stage reentered and made a soft splashdown in the Pacific north of Hawaii, where it toppled over and exploded as on many previous test flights. [SpaceNews]
A startup working on distributed computing systems in space will launch its first mission in 2027. For the 2027 flight, scheduled to launch in March or April on an undisclosed small satellite, SpaceComputer will test Space Fabric, its hardware and software architecture with secure and physically isolated computing elements. That spacecraft will travel from low Earth orbit to geostationary orbit, allowing SpaceComputer to see how its technology works in different radiation environments. [SpaceNews]
ESA has selected three proposed Earth science missions for further study. ESA said last week it picked ECO, Keystone and CryoRad to move to the next preparatory phase of its Earth Explorer line of missions. ECO would study the Earth's energy imbalance to understand its effects on climate, Keystone would measure atomic oxygen and metals in the upper atmosphere, and CryoRad would measure temperatures in polar ice sheets. [ESA]
There's no longer a National Space Council in Washington, DC, but there is a new space council in the state of Washington. Gov. Bob Ferguson announced Monday the creation of the Washington Space Council, whose 23 members include company executives as well as representatives from academia, government and other organizations. The council will study ways to keep the state competitive with others in the space industry in topics such as infrastructure and workforce development. [GeekWire]
One group wants the United Nations to step in and stop the expansion of satellite constellations. The Outer Space Institute, a Canadian organization, has proposed that the United Nations General Assembly take up a resolution calling on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to examine the environmental issues of large satellite constellations, including their effect on astronomy. That resolution would require only a simple majority for approval, unlike the consensus needed in bodies like the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. However, any findings made by the ICJ on the issue would not be binding. [Space.com]
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Excitement Guaranteed
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"That launch honestly feels like it was three hours ago. When we say excitement guaranteed, we don't lie."
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– Dan Huot, one of the hosts of SpaceX's Starship launch webcast, nervously awaiting the decision by flight controllers about 20 minutes after liftoff whether to proceed with an orbit insertion burn.
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